OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAHY KANSAN
7A
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.
Coalition follows through on promise
Trust them. They're politicians. Fortunately, these seemingly contradicting sentences have shown to be true, even during election season.
KUpedia, the site formerly known as WIKUpedia has separated from the now defunct ConnectKU Student Senate coalition, following through on an election season promise.
KUpedia left the political realm, but it has gained increased association with the University through mutual linking with KU Info. KUpedia had plotted a
positive new course by increasing editorial independence and forging new partnerships.
Separating from ConnectKU has resolved two long-standing issues about the management of the wiki.
First, ConnectKU made a campaign season promise to separate from the site after the elections, win or lose. Although it took the summer to make it happen, the coalition followed through on the promise. Despite the fact that ConnectKU did not win the presidency or vice presidency in the election, it still made a positive contribution from its campaign. This model allows future coalitions to offer positive contributions and raise their profile before election season.
KUPEDIA
OUR VIEW
The separation will also ease fears about KUpedia's editorial
independence. In its previous incarnation, KUpedia offered information about other political parties besides ConnectKU and sensitive political topics.
Now that it is managed by an independent, non-political group, the information available on KUpedia is less likely to contain bias.
With these new moves, KUpedia will become an open source of non-biased, accessible and in-depth information about the University.
Independence should increase user confidence about the value of information on KUpedia, and new partnerships will bring even more information.
Anyone wanting to post information about the University should feel confident about using this valuable site.
Alex Doherty for the editorial board
editorials around the state
Biden brings needed qualities to ballot
Obama followed a long list of so-called inexperienced presidential candidates who chose seasoned running mates. Take the present occupant of the White House, for example.
Critics were quick to theorize that Sen. Barack Obama's decision to choose longtime Sen. Joe Biden as a running mate centered solely on the experience factor. Those critics should step back and review history.
The only experience George W. Bush brought to the table when he decided to seek the presidency was his stint as governor of Texas. He had no foreign policy experience and no U.S. House or Senate experience, unlike Obama, who has four years of political service under his belt.
Pundits and critics alike ought to deep-six the inexperience label they've attached to Obama. Clearly, voters in the past have elected equally or less-experienced candidates for
president who chose experienced vice presidents.
Biden is a congenial, thoughtful and experienced senator. His depth of knowledge on world leaders and issues broadened as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his recent trip to help cool tempers between Russia and Georgia leaders made his stock rise as vice presidential material.
American voters want a presidential ticket stacked with two individuals ready to meet head-on the myriad of problems left by the departing Bush administration. But Americans also need to see a slice of themselves and a dose of humor in the next president and vice president.
Biden brings out those traits in Obama.
And if he happens also to bring experience to the Democratic ticket, well, he's not the first vice presidential candidate to do that in the 20th and 21st centuries.
— Hutchinson News Aug. 26 editorial
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Send letters to opinion@kansan.com
Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
Length: 300-400 words
The submission should include the author's name, phone number, grade, hometown.
LETTER GUIDELINES
CONTACT US
Dani Hurst, managing editor
R64-4R10 or dhurst@kansan.com
Matt Erickson, editor
Matt Erickson, editor
864.4810 or medrickson@kansasun.edu
Mark Dent, managing editor 864-4810 or mdent@kansan.com
Lauren Keith, opinian editor
864-4924 or lkeith@kansan.com
Kelsey Hayes, managing editor
B44.4810.or khaves@kansan.com
Patrick De Oliveira, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or pdeoliveira@kansan.com
Jordan Herrmann, business manager 864-4358 or jerrmann@kansan.com
Toni Bergquist, sales manager
864-4477 or tberqquist@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or jschitt@kansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Jenny Hartz, Lauren Keith, Patrick de Rainy,霞 Raye Sebastian and Ian Stanford.
864-7667 or moibson@kansan.com
That hydroxyacetic acid goes with your skin tone
MARIAM SAIFAN
If you're a fan of irony, you may be pleased to know what's behind your healthy glow.
OK, that's the most positive intro I could craft. The ugly truth is that your beauty regimen may have dangerous ingredients at work. Lead, mercury, formaldehyde, as well as components of rocket fuel, are just a few terms I came across when researching what goes into personal care products from the biggest names in the beauty biz.
And guys, a shower and a shave could be enough to lower your sperm count and contribute to testicular tumors. That's because in the U.S., the average man's daily routine exposes him to 80 chemicals each day, according to Stacy Malkan, author of the book "Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry." The average woman's tallies more than twice that. Skin is the body's largest organ and because it is so porous, what goes on your body is as important as what goes into it.
Despite this, the beauty industry isn't overseen by a government agency like the FDA. Instead, an industry-sponsored panel, called the Personal Care Products Council, tests products for short-term safety concerns like rashes and swelling.
In Europe, more than 1,100 chemicals have been banned from beauty products because they're linked to cancer and birth defects. Probably causes cancer? Those Europeans, what worrywarts. Here in the U.S., chemicals are innocent until proven guilty.
It's surprising to me that a for-profit industry using some 10,500 ingredients makes its own rules. The lenient regulation is one reason you aren't likely to find lead
listed with ingredients on a tube of liftick.
Beauty industry lobbyists fought a California state Senate bill this summer that aimed to rid lipsticks of lead. The argument is that a little lead on the lips won't kill you. And they're pretty sure that's true.
Unfortunately, lead is far from the only undercover ingredient used. In fragranced products, there may be hundreds of unlisted ingredients. "Natural" and "organic" claims mean little in the cosmetics realm and often show up on the most chemical-laden products.
But I don't preach abstinence. You can learn how to have safe sex make-up. Ah, and I can't quite find the right pun about the Burt's and the Bees.
If you've seen me lately around campus, you may have noticed my one-woman bovcott.
English is an Overland Park junior in journalism and economics.
products mean fewer chemicals in our bodies, fewer chemicals in our waste stream and fewer unknown effects to worry about.
And then it starts to feel pretty good. For me, it's a matter of looking twice at what goes into my body. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised if the industry I ask to mask my blemishes has a flaw or two it'd like to cover up.
Don't rush into things. Ease into replacing your products, starting with those you use most frequently like shampoo and deodorant. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit team of researchers, can tell you what labels won't. Skin Deep, the group's online database, allows you to search the toxicity of more than 25,000 products.
Start by taking it off. Fewer
Does the United States have a healthy democracy?
This summer I received an e-mail that contained a message I've now become used to. The e-mail said I should reconsider my views on our foreign policy in the Middle East because those views question the infallibility of the president, so they must be evil.
The e-mail was sent by an older family member in response to a conversation I had held with a younger family member, but I'd heard the same message broadcast other places like bumper stickers and Fox "News."
Criticism of my government, including the president, is essential to the health of our democracy, making criticism an act of patriotism.
I didn't respond to the e-mail, but if I did it would have said something like this.
An eerily similar slew of e-mails filled my inbox last semester after a column I wrote criticized the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The writers of those e-mails repeated the same question as the recent one: Why did I choose the one democratic country in the region to pick on?
In this case, the irony of the message in the e-mail is obvious. Unfortunately, we have grown used to this irony, especially in the long, pitiful wake of the events of Sept. 11.
Again with the blatant irony.
said something like this.
I didn't respond to these e-mails either, but if I had they would have
Democratic states should be held to a higher standard of accountability by other democracies. Any country claiming democratic status must not only accept criticism, but it must expect, invite and be duly grateful when it occurs.
Criticism of democracies other than the one I belong to is an act of accountability to the push for a global democracy.
Asserting that someone should refrain from criticizing a political entity because that entity is a democracy is like asking someone to refrain from criticizing the actions of North Korea or Burma because they're not democracies.
Being a democracy is not — contrary to popular belief — a ticket to do whatever we want. There is no "get out of jail free" card.
An appeal to silence dissent at the expense of democracy is a danger to everything democracy stands for, especially freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
I'm not the lone voice of extremism — this is what they teach us at the University.
In my public speaking textbook, I recently read of the importance of the public forum: a space "that exists wherever people have the freedom to exchange ideas," to democratic societies.
According to author David Zarefsky, professor of communication studies at Northwestern University, a democracy fares the best when its "public forum is active and vibrant. Without a well-cultivated public forum, democracies tend to decline."
The importance of such criticism is rooted deep in tradition at this university. The KU student and Kansan William Allen White, wrote in his Pulitzer Prizewinning column, "To An Anxious Friend," not only about the importance of free speech, but directly to our foreign policy in the Middle East: "If you are interested in peace through force and without free discussion — that is to say, free utterance decently and in order — your interest in justice is slight. And peace without justice is tyranny, no matter how you may sugarcoat it with expedience."
Healthy democracies cherish criticism because they do not see a difference between free speech and justice.
Does the United States represent the healthy democracy that some claim it does?
The sad truth is that the argument that labels any criticism of a democracy as a heinous sin is usually bolstered by an assumption that the critic only criticizes because he harbors a deep-seated hatred for what he criticizes.
This argument is a last resort for those whose reason has left them little to work with, and have instead turned to emotional appeals.
Beware of appeals for your emotional investment without reason.
If anyone asserts that your critical argument concerning the action of any country stems from your inherent and maniacal hatred for that country and its inhabitants (America: love it or leave it!), recognize it for what it is: the regurgitation of propaganda that has appealed to the deepest emotions of a person, and not to her reason.
Anderson is a Perry junior in creative writing.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
I swear to God my philoso phy class is a grab bag.
--crack
After having read Thurs-
--crack
After having twelve mids day's Free for All, I am convinced that 90 percent of the students at this school are complete and utter morons.
You know what sounds like a really good idea? Opening up a 12th scholarship hall and not adding any more parking
--crack
--crack
I am pretty sure that the guy on the Gaines Furniture Outlet commercials is on
---
I was walking to class late and this woman just asked if I needed a ride. It was the coolest thing in the whole world.
Thanks a lot.
---
You're cute, so smile back.
Yeah, so Dominino's Pizza is not even worth the $3 coupon you got at Hawk Week.
---
This isn't Johnson County. If you want to go to class, go there
---
I would like to know who everyone's favorite and least favorite fraternities and sororii.
How is it a safe ride if you don't have your ID and you have to drive your friend's car back to the house after you have been drinking all night?
I just saw somebody with Ugg boots on. Really? Already?
---
Mmm, moiito!
---
I saw a fox laying on the practice fields. I am glad somebody is making use of it.
---
I hate that the one decent guy I have met and liked during college is moving away next week, and I will probably never see him again.
---
I'm sorry for not seeming into it. I'm just tired of being let down. I do love you.
---
I make out with losers.
I saw that guy get the shit kicked out of him at the Reserve. That was awesome.
I'm so sorry you got pulled over, but you are extremely cute and we should date.
@KANSAN.COM
Want more? Check out Free for All online.
---